Rachel Ooi fixes her hair while posing for a photograph with a check at her home in Hendersonville, Tenn., Wednesday, March 19, 2014. / Jae S. Lee, The Tennessean

by Tom Wilemon, The Tennessean

by Tom Wilemon, The Tennessean

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Thirteen-year-old Rachel Ooi practiced her pi helping out in the kitchen, riding in the family car and hanging around the living room - wherever her mom could get iPhone reception to check her memorized computations.

They started practicing in October.

The hard work paid off on Pi Day - the annual celebration for the symbol denoting the never-ending decimal that is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

The Ellis Middle School student traveled to New Jersey and won the 2014 Princeton Pi Recitation Competition for ages 13 and younger. The event is held every March 14 because that's the date that corresponds with the first three digits of that never-ending decimal.

From memory, she can recite pi past 2,300 digits.

"It just grew to more of an obsession," she said.

She had to be on point for longer than 15 minutes to win a check for $314.15. After her closest competitor made it past 1,600 digits, she surpassed 1,700 before finally fumbling on a number.

"I knew I could do more than that," she said, blaming nerves for the mistake.

The Hendersonville, Tenn., girl comes by her love of numbers naturally. Her mother, Lucy Ooi, is an accountant. Her father, Phillip Ooi, is a computer analyst.

Although math is her favorite subject, she said she plans to become a psychologist because it's supposed to be a good career for blind people. Her vision has gotten progressively worse. An avid reader, she is now learning Braille and relying on audio books.

Her visit to Princeton has inspired her to think big. She said her goal is to attend the Ivy League university.